Tim Henman dipped into his special relationship with Wimbledon to bring him through one of the most epic matches of his career.

With the famous hill which bears his name packed and with the Centre Court crowd roaring him on he carried on from where he left off the night before, when the light failed at 5-5 in the final set, to finish off Carlos Moya 6-3 1-6 5-7 6-2 13-11.

But Henman is Britain's sole survivor in the men's singles after Richard Bloomfield, Lee Childs, Jamie Baker, Jonathan Marray and Alex Bogdanovic all suffered straight-sets defeats.

Yorkshire's Katie O'Brien was the only other homegrown player to reach the second round after a hard-fought victory over Germany's Sandra Kloesel.

O'Brien, the British number one, also recorded her first victory at the All England Club in four attempts with the 6-3 7-5 win on court 17.

Meanwhile, a battling but error-strewn performance by Elena Baltacha produced another hard luck story for the Britons.

The former British number one had the measure of an opponent she beat in the Australian Open two years ago but paid a heavy price for some slipshod serving as she went down 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-2 to 19th seed Katarina Srebotnik.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat another ex-British number one Anne Keovathong in straight sets 6-2 6-0.

Back in the men's singles and Rafael Nadal advanced to the second round although he was pushed hard by Mardy Fish.

The second-seeded Spaniard was not at his sparkling best but he proved too strong for the big-serving American, winning 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 in two hours and 18 minutes on Centre Court.

America's ninth seed James Blake had eased past Igor Andreev of Russia in straight sets earlier in the day.

Blake was hardly relying on his serve - he was broken three times, but he was superb at converting the vital points, winning 75% of his eight break opportunities in the contest.

He eventually prevailed 6-3 6-4 6-4, and will play Andrei Pavel in round two.

Tommy Robredo, the 11th seed from Spain, beat America's Robert Kendrick 6-2 3-6 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 on Court 11, while 12th seed Richard Gasquet of France sealed his place in round two with a comfortable 6-3 6-6 6-4 win over Bohdan Ulihrach.

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt failed to find top gear as he disposed of Britain's Bloomfield.

Hewitt, the 2002 champion, suffered the indignity of becoming the only number one seed to lose in the first round when he attempted to defend his title.

And the Australian was clearly out to avoid another early exit as he saw off a determined, if rather limited, British number four 7-5 6-3 7-5 on Court One.

Number 15 seed Ivan Ljubicic beat Vincent Spadea in four sets in their first-round clash.

The Croatian raced to a two set lead and looked to be heading for a straightforward victory at 6-4 6-4.

However, Spadea battled back to take the third set 6-4, and then he forced the fourth set to a tie-break.

Ljubicic held is nerve to take the breaker 7-4 for a 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7-4) victory.

Seventh seed Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Nicolas Massu of Chile in straight sets 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 6-2.

In the late finishing games, four more seeds safely reached round two.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic cruised past Potito Starace 6-0 6-3 6-4 while Russian 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny was a straight sets winner over Kristian Pless, prevailing 6-4 6-2 6-4.

Russian sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko won an epic opening set tie-break 14-12 against compatriot Evgeny Korolev before reeling off the next two sets 6-4, 7-5.

And 10th seed Marcos Baghdatis overcame the loss of the opening set to beat Ernest Gulbis 3-6 6-4 6-3 6-2.

Defending women's champion Amelie Mauresmo easily defeated the ragged challenge of young American Jamea Jackson in their opener, taking just 63 minutes to win 6-1 6-3.

Mauresmo, stepping back as only number four seed after a patchy year, produced a mixture of clinical and creative shots to break up the ambitions of her plucky but totally outclassed rival.

Daniela Hantuchova also made swift progress by thrashing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

The tall Slovakian, seeded 10 this year, was dominant against her Russian opponent, clinching a 6-0 6-1 victory in 40 minutes on court 11.

Former champion Maria Sharapova had to dig deep to secure safe passage into the second round as she beat determined Yung-Jan Chan of Taipei 6-1 7-5 on Court One.

The number two seed, a fairytale winner here in 2004, had been struggling with a shoulder injury recently and at times looked sluggish, especially in the second set.

However, in the end the former world number one found enough to see off Chan and complete her victory in one hour and 29 minutes.

Another former women's champion Venus Williams came back from the dead to deny the "Graveyard of Champions" another scalp.

The 26-year-old Williams suffered a surprise third-round defeat by Jelena Jankovic on the All England Club's infamous Court Two 12 months ago and was a set and a break down to Russian teenager Alla Kudryavtseva before fighting back to claim a 2-6 6-3 7-5 win.

Eighth seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia beat Angelique Kerber of Germany in straight sets 7-5 6-3.

In the matches which were played late into the evening, Russian number five seed Svetlana Kuznetsova came from behind to beat Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

And her compatriot Nadia Petrova, the 11th seed, beat America's Vania King 6-0 6-1.